CANCER IS A BITCH
*or, I'd Rather Be Having a Midlife Crisis
Hardcover, 261 pages
$22.00
ISBN: 978-0-7382-1162-6 Buy the Book
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Cancer Is a Bitch
Overview
“I want to be brave. I want to be big. I want to be gracious and cool. I want to be the Audrey Hepburn of cancer…”
At 45, I was a competitive runner, a yoga practitioner, a life-long subscriber to Prevention magazine, rarely sick, no aches, no pains, a person others consulted for nutrition and anti-aging tips, one of the healthiest people I knew. After raising three kids, my oldest heading off to college, my younger two busy with their own lives, I looked forward to getting back to the writing career I’d always meant to have before marriage and motherhood. I thought it was finally my turn.
Then right before Valentine’s Day 2006, I heard the words that flipped my world upside down” “Just to be safe, I think we should biopsy.”
It was the beginning of my year-long struggle to come to terms with the psychological fall-out of my breast cancer diagnosis that upstaged the midlife crisis I’d thought was waiting in the wings. “I wanted to be feeling bad about my neck. Instead I was feeling bad I wouldn’t live long enough to feel bad about it.” I was suddenly faced with the truth that awaits all of us—this was my life, and I would do anything to hold onto it.
As a doctor’s wife, I knew more than I should about my doctors and caregivers, my diagnosis and treatment. As a mother, the idea of not being there for the next birthday, next graduation, next anything, was unbearable. And as a woman who had put my own dreams on hold for so many years, I felt cheated, but determined to make every minute count.
Cancer Is a Bitch is about the outrageous challenges of marriage, about the joys and unpredictability of motherhood, about the depth of friendship, about finally letting go of old baggage and finding your lost self midlife, about figuring out what you want to do with your life, about wanting to live now.
“Funny, raw, and moving,” this life-affirming story will make you want to hug your husband, your partner, your kids, your loved ones, for all that you have—and for all that you don’t. Will inspire you to wake up with all your senses heightened, your arms and your eyes wide open and do the things you meant to do, be the person you always meant to be.